Freedom to Read Week is for many fellow Librarians across the country our favourite week of the year.

From Feb. 24 to March 2, we celebrate all of the books that have been challenged over the years, at various different libraries throughout North America, for various different reasons. We embrace the statement of intellectual freedom and the freedom to read and choose what we want to read. Most libraries will take this week to deliver programming or instructional sessions on the topic and they will also create visual displays depicting copies of banned books locked up in a cage or behind yellow crime tape to raise awareness of this important week in libraries. With a mixture of classics, children’s books, and popular books, the list of challenged or banned books is always growing. Some books that have been challenged include the Harry Potter series, Of Mice and Men, Underground to Canada, and The Handmaid’s Tale.

Freedom to Read Week is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about their commitment to intellectual freedom, and this is supported and reinforced under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Celebrating 35 years of Freedom to Read Week this year, it is important that we bring about awareness and show support for libraries and for books.

The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) exists to uphold the core values of libraries and they have a statement of intellectual freedom that public libraries indorse and defend, and here are just some pieces of that statement that reflect the freedom to choose what to read:

“The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) recognizes and values the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and promotes the universal principles of intellectual freedom as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which include the interlocking freedoms to hold opinions and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

“In accordance with these principles, the Canadian Federation of Library Associations affirms that all persons in Canada have a fundamental right, subject only to the Constitution and the law, to have access to the full range of knowledge, imagination, ideas, and opinion, and to express their thoughts publicly. Only the courts may abridge free expression rights in Canada.

“The Canadian Federation of Library Associations affirms further that libraries have a core responsibility to support, defend and promote the universal principles of intellectual freedom and privacy.

“Libraries have a core responsibility to safeguard and facilitate access to constitutionally protected expressions of knowledge, imagination, ideas, and opinion, including those which some individuals and groups consider unconventional, unpopular or unacceptable. To this end, in accordance with their mandates and professional values and standards, libraries provide, defend and promote equitable access to the widest possible variety of expressive content and resist calls for censorship and the adoption of systems that deny or restrict access to resources.

“Library employees, volunteers and employers as well as library governing entities have a core responsibility to uphold the principles of intellectual freedom in the performance of their respective library roles”.

With this core responsibility of upholding the freedom of access to information and literature, public libraries are prepared to justify any item that is on their shelf or any item selected for purchase. For a complete listing of banned and challenged materials, as well as more information on freedom to read, visit the Freedom to Read Week website at http://www.freedomtoread.ca/.